The invention relates to an improvement for knitting needle systems of the type in which various components are interchangeable whereby the hand knitting of a variety of projects may be accomplished.
Interchangeable knitting systems have been provided in the past, but suffer from various faults including breakage of the end connecting portion of the knitting needles. This is usually the result of the increased moment caused by a metal tube adaptor acting like a lever arm while being affixed to the connector end of the needle at one side, and to the yarn cable at the other. For example, in our U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,387, which issued Jan. 22, 1985, a preferably metal tube or cable adaptor is utilized for plastic interchangeable knitting needles. For the sake of economy and ease of handling, it is desirable that the knitting needles comprise a plastic material. As a result, the integral connector which extends from the bottom of the needle is necessarily made of plastic and threaded in order to be capable of engagement with the tube adaptor. While the invention disclosed in our patent is quite useful with regard to the interchangeability of components, the breakage problem experienced at the connector end has rendered this system less effective.
It is therefore the specific goal of the present invention to overcome the breakage problems caused at the connector end of the knitting needles by the elimination of adaptors interconnecting the cable and the knitting needle in one form of the invention. The invention specifically solves this breakage problem in this first form of the invention by the direct engagement of a novel knitting needle connector end to the cable.
As provided in our said U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,387, the present invention also provides a stop button when only one knitting needle is required to be connected to a cable for the storage of looped yarn. Additionally, the present invention provides double-ended connectors for stringing a series of cables between knitting needles so that increased yarn storage capacity is achieved. In the first form of the invention both the stop button and double-ended connector members have connecting end portions of substantially the identical construction to that of the knitting needles. Thereby, a simple standard connecting procedure is used for all the components enabling the system to be quickly re-arranged while greatly reducing breakage of the connector ends.
In a second from of the invention, it is an object to eliminate plastic connector ends extending from the knitting needles and alternately provide an integrally molded metal insert male coupling member which is thread engageable with a female connecting member having, at an opposite end, an engageable coupling stem for attachment to hollow flexible cables. The female connecting member is quickly thread-disengageable from the male coupling member whereby a concomitant goal of providing for interchangeability of cables and system components is achieved.
In furtherance of the objectives of the second form of the invention, double-ended connector members, having cable attachment means similar to the female member are intended to be alternately usable from those of the first form of the invention whereby to string cables together. Likewise, it is an objective of the second form of the invention to provide an alternately usable stop button means having a cable-connecting means substantially the same as that of the female connecting member when it is desirable to use only one knitting needle at one end of the cable with a stop button means, rather than a second needle, at the other.
Additionally, it is an objective of the second form of the invention to optionally provide a resilient O-ring between the base, or end face, of the knitting needle and a barrel portion of the female connector whereby a tight engagement, with a smooth exterior surface, is provided that allows for the male/female engaged threading to be relatively loose and permit the craftsperson to control the compressive tightness of the coupling between the male coupling member and the female connector member.
There is also provided, in all forms of the invention, the capability of utilizing cables of varying wall thicknesses whereby pull strength can be increased. The heavy duty cables useful in the system are formed to allow a smooth sliding movement of looped yarn from the barrel of the needle onto the cable member.
The first form of the invention may briefly be summarized as comprising knitting needles having a conical tip formed in a conventional manner with a barrel or shaft portion that is the hand-holding portion of the needle. Opposite the conical tip, the barrel terminates in either a beveled or non-beveled end portion whereby to have an end, or base, diameter substanially the same as the diameter of a cable when the cable is engaged to the needle. The engagement of the cable to the needle is performed by an improved connecting end that includes a stem which is partially threaded and has an outside diameter somewhat larger than the internal diameter of the cable. Inasmuch as the needles preferably comprise plastic, injection molding is best suited to form the needles. The sprue portion of each of the molded needles is left partially intact at the tip of the threaded stem and provides a guiding prong, or tip, facilitating easy insertion of the threaded portion interiorly of the cable. The threaded stem self-taps into the wall of the cable for a secure but removable connection. The cable may have a similarly described needle at the opposite end whereby knots of yarn may be gathered therebetween. Otherwise, one needle may be left as a free member and the other connected to a cable having a stop button engaged at the distal end thereof. Thereby, the looped yarn may be gathered along the cable and prevented from sliding off of the cable upon abutting the stop button. The stop button is provided with a substantially identical threaded connector end for self-tapping engagement into the cable. When a large-sized knitting project is undertaken, a plurality of cables may be interconnected in between knitting needles, or in between a knitting needle and a stop button, by the provision of a double-ended connector member. The connector member has oppositely extending self-tapping threaded end connectors for engagement with the cables in like fashion to the connecting ends of the knitting needles and the stop button. By virtue of the elimination of tube adaptors between the cable and knitting needle, stop button, or connectors, the moment, or leverage, at the base of the threaded end connector is greatly reduced whereby breakage is substantially eliminated. Moreover, the first form of the improved inventive knitting needle system also eliminates the need for providing specially formed resilient locking means for the connector ends which were provided for the engagement of the tube adaptors described in our said U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,387.
In the second form, the invention may be briefly summarized as comprising a knitting needle similar to that of the first form, but wherein the end, or base, of the needle, rather than having an extending connecting portion formed integrally of the same material as the rest of the needle, is alternately provided with an integrally molded metal male coupling member in a permanent affixation therewith. Additionally, in this second form of the invention, a female connecting member is thread engageable with an extending threaded stem portion of the male coupling member at a threaded bore of a barrel portion thereof. At the opposite end, the female member has a roughened extending stem which friction fits interiorly at the ends of a hollow, flexible cable. Thus, a metal-to-metal connector assembly is provided that eliminates the breakage problem found in the prior art.
In the second form, the two-member connector assembly may include a flexible O-ring arranged between the base or end face of the knitting needle and the thread-engaged barrel portion of the female connecting member. Thereby, a compressive force against the O-ring is created as the female connector is thread-engaged to the male coupling member, whereby the connecting tightness may be controlled by the craftsperson. Additionally, the use of an O-ring provides a smooth transition for yarn loops passing from the knitting needle over the coupling assembly and also compensates for any mismatching at the end diameter of the knitting needle and female connector. Similar to the first embodiment of the invention, the second embodiment provides for a double-ended connector having a roughened engageable friction fit portion at both sides of a central barrel portion, similar to the extending stem of the female connector, whereby flexible cables may be strung together. Likewise, a stop-button means may be provided to have an extending stem similar to that of the female connector extending stem whereby to be engageable at the opposite end of a cable when the craftsperson utilizes only one knitting needle at the other end of the cable, or string of cables. In all forms of the invention, however, the utilization of the stop-button and double-ended connector of the first form of the invention may be utilized inasmuch as these components attach only to the ends of flexible cables, not directly to the knitting needles, and are thus not utlized for the interconnection of the knitting needle to a flexible cable.